Press release

Ingolstadt, 2012-05-20

Quotes after the race at Brands Hatch

Mike Rockenfeller on position three, five Audi A5 DTM cars in the points. Quotes from the Audi camp after the DTM race at Brands Hatch.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “It’s nice that ‘Rocky’ (Mike Rockenfeller) brought third place home. He almost could have battled for second place but here at Brands Hatch closing up to the car in front is one thing and overtaking it an altogether different matter. With five cars in the top ten we’ve scored a strong overall team result which shows that we’re on the right track. That’s why I’m looking ahead to the next races with confidence.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM), 3rd place“I’m very pleased with the race because we squeezed out the maximum. I had a good start and then gave everything on each lap – my eyes always pinned on the gaps. My crew did a tremendous job and made perfect pit stops, I really want to thank them for that. We won’t let up now but work hard on making up the gap we’ve still got. I think today was a good step for this.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM), 5th place“Recovering from position eight on the grid to fifth is at least a small success experience and results in a few more points in the championship. I had a decent start and was able to make up a couple of places later.”

Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM), 7th place“It was a good race for me. We were quick and had a good strategy – that allowed me to move forward from twelfth to seventh place. At the next race we need to concentrate on qualifying even more intensively in order to clinch a better grid position.”

Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM), 9th place“That was a long race today with 98 laps. We started from position eleven and finished in ninth place, scoring two points this way. There’s nothing else to be said about it.”

Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A5 DTM), 10th place“I had a good start and advanced to fourth place. It wasn’t easy to keep Martin (Tomczyk) behind me. Then, after the second pit stop, we lost time and a lot of positions. Everyone around me had fresher tires, so the last third of the race wasn’t much fun. Tenth place is a disappointment for me.”

Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM), 12th place“My race was very good in the beginning. I was running in fifth place when Martin Tomczyk attacked. I wanted to avoid a collision, so I lost not just one but two positions. Afterwards we lost the largest chunk of time due to the blue flags. It’s difficult to let only the cars pass that should definitely overtake. I’d been hoping for points but now I’m going to try again next time.”

Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM), 18th place“I’m quite pleased with the race. On Sunday we again managed to find the performance that I’d already been wishing for on Saturday. I had some thrilling duels on track and in the end Ralf Schumacher was behind me – that’s at least something.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM), retirement (engine misses)“Actually, my start hadn’t been so bad but at the end of turn one I was in the most unfortunate place as I was pushed all the way to the outside and lost positions again. After that we were able to keep the pace until I had some engine misses in the second third of the race. We decided to end the race at that point in order to not risk any damage.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “First of all, congratulations to Rocky (Mike Rockenfeller) on taking third place. From our perspective this wasn’t a successful weekend. Granted, Mattias Ekström made up a few positions after starting from eighth on the grid and even advanced to third place in the championship. But our claim is to be in contention for victory. To achieve this we need to continue to work hard together.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “A superb result. A superb race by ‘Rocky.’ Our strategy was good and so were our stops. We always kept the pace. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to attack Bruno (Spengler) any more in the end because on this track downforce is lacking in the slipstream. Otherwise second place might have been possible. Miguel Molina’s feat of advancing from 14 to seventh place was brilliant as well.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “I’m very disappointed. Today we ruined the race for both of our drivers because none of the pit stops worked out. I want to apologize for that. We’re going to do everything to make this up as quickly as possible.”

Note on fuel consumption figures at DATFurther information about the official fuel consumption figures and official, specific CO2 emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the “Guide to fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and electricity consumption of new cars,” which is available free of charge from all sales outlets and from DAT (Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH), Hellmuth-Hirth-Strasse 1, 73760 Ostfildern-Scharnhausen, Germany (http://www.dat.de).